NEW DELHI: “Bullet Man” Sanjeev Sinha who flew from Tokyo specially spoke on the High Speed Rail systems at the CII organized Railways Industry Forum in presence of Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal and other dignitaries.

Sinha emphasized on a holistic model for the economy with “safety, trust and speed all as important and integral part of a healthy and efficient system” as envisaged by Japan for the Mumbai Ahmedabad Bullet Train. Sinha pointed out that the lack of safety and trust in a society not just affects the quality of life but also has a direct cost to the economy. Sinha, the first IIT graduate from the Barmer district of Rajasthan and now a 21 years prominent resident of Japan, gave an example of Japanese economy where the mutual trust in the society makes the economic transactions much faster and easier.

People have a piece of mind and trust in the system, while the system also trusts the people and hence both prosper together. The trains and stations are equipped with high quality expensive equipment like large touch screen information systems, nice cushy seats and high-tech toilets with automatic washing features, without any fear of vandalizing or damage by misuse.

Sinha, having been advisor to Japanese city governments on urban development, explained the model of railway stations in Japan as convenient and efficient mini-cities where shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, office buildings, residential buildings, hospitals, kindergartens and educational institutes are all connected to the station in a convenient manner so that each and every component benefits from the footfalls (customers/visitors) of the others and the public gets an extremely safe, convenient and economically efficient quality of life.

“The trust among the different components of the large infrastructure system and the development authorities is very helpful in planning such holistic regions where the low cost and long-term funding from Japan can be a big catalyst and solution to many problems as well,” Sinha added.

Sinha as the president of India Japan Partnership Fund is also working on creating holistic funding and technology models for such wholesome economic development combining different components like infrastructure, manufacturing, service industry and human resource development where each component benefits from others and makes the total eco-system much more feasible and economically profitable.

Sinha mentioned that there is a very good funding appetite from Japan for such holistic models with a long-term perspective on economy and society with a desire to strengthen India Japan Partnership.

A prominent resident of Japan for 21 years, Sinha was born in the desert town of Barmer in Rajasthan and was the first from the region to go to the prestigious IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) after his high school. Completing his integrated masters in Physics with distinction and working in Indian conglomerate Godrej, Sinha came to Japan to join GenTech for R&D in Artificial Intelligence in 1996 leading to the creation of Mobileye in Israel as one of the leaders in Automated Driving Systems of today.
Acquiring another master’s degree in finance, Sinha built a career in Finance industry working with Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Securities, UBS and then as Chief Country Representative in Japan for Tata Asset Management and Tata Realty and Infra, raising around a billion USD from Japanese investors.

Along the way Sinha built and headed many new platforms for India Japan collaboration as Founding President IIT Alumni Association Japan, Founding President TiE Tokyo, Founding President Sun and Sands Group and others. Promoting bilateral relations, Sinha has been a regular commentator on national TV, columnist on newspapers like Nikkei and Asahi, frequent speaker at top industry bodies like Keizaidoyukai and chambers of commerce, served as an Advisor to Nagareyama City and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) and as a Visiting Faculty to University of Tokyo and International University of Japan. Sinha is also an Advisor to renowned Kyoto University, on the Board of Management of Indus University and Editorial Board Member of METI affiliated publication Japan Spotlight for many years.

Over the two decades, Sinha has been promoting bilateral interactions among the industrialists, Ministers/Members of Parliaments, bureaucrats and academicians between the two countries with specific work on DMIC, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Shinkansen, Andhra Pradesh New Capital project, Kyoto-Kashi collaboration, IIT Gandhinagar collaboration with JAIST and Japanese support of about 400 million USD for IIT Hyderabad among others.

For continued wide-ranging collaboration, Sinha is leading a India-Japan Collaboration Fund and a holistic collaboration platform as President of India Japan Partnership Group, President of India Japan Partnership Fund, Research Institute of Next General AI, Japan India Finance Research Institute, Director of Japan India Global Infrastructure Research Institute, Japan China India Bio Sciences Research Institute, Kyoto Kashi Co., Fuji Tiger Advisors, MD to Kuni Umi Asset Management, Advisor to Buddha Raj Education and Linkites Infotech and President of Sun and Sands Group. Sinha is also an early stage promoter and advisor for the 18 billion USD high speed rail project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai with focus on holistic regional economic development.

Sinha has authored four books in Japanese (www.SanjeevSinha.com) “Amazing India” by Shincho, “India-Japan Partnership” by Kodansha, “Amazing India Business” by Nikkei and “Indian Way of Karma and Jugaad” by Shuwa. The books were launched at the Parliamentarians’ Building of Japan with promoters including Mori Yoshiro former Prime Minister of Japan, Ishii Kenchii Cabinet Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of Japan, the concerned ministry for Shinkansen and related Urban Development, Shiozaki Yasuhisa Cabinet Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Kishida Fumio Cabinet Minister of Foreign Affairs and Hayashi Yoshimasa, Cabinet Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Agriculture previously, including 25 other prominent members of parliaments, corporate executives like Suzuki Osamu Chairman Suzuki Motors and academicians from Japan.

From India, Suresh Prabhu, now Minister of Commerce and Industry, Ashish Chauhan CEO and MD BSE, Dr. Rajiv Kumar Member of the Board of Reserve Bank of India and now Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog, Baba Kalyani Chairman Bharat Forge and Co-Chair India-Japan Business Leader’s Forum and RC Bhargawa Chairman Maruti Suzuki were among other promoters of the books.